Wise owl gets a bad rap

In response to your article, “Predators target small animals” in last week’s Acorn, I would like to clarify something. I do not know of any documented cases of a barn owl preying on people’s pets. They are one of the most studied birds in the world as far as diet. On the contrary, people’s pets prey on the poor barn owl.

The problem is that the author has lumped all owls together when not all owls are the same. They are a very diverse family—205 species worldwide. We are blessed to have a few of these owls fulltime here in the Santa Monica Mountains and it is a good thing.

Great horned owls, our largest, are 18- to 24-inches tall and weight 3 pounds. Barn owls are mediumsize at 13.5inches and weigh 1 pound. Western screech owls are 8.5-inches and weigh 5 ounces. Burrowing owls are uncommon in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Only one owl in our area is capable of catching animals the size of our smallest pets—the great horned owl—and the evidence shows that this does not happen very often. Barn owls’ prey consists of small rodents and sometimes they can catch a small squirrel or rabbit.

Since owls are mainly nocturnal, I wonder why this uproar about catching peoples’ pets. What are the pets doing outside at night? Keep them indoors. Cars are much more responsible for killing our pets.

Barn owls can catch up to 2,000 rats per year. A barn owl with young can catch more. Barn owls are our best alternative to rat poison for pest control. Rat poison kills rats as well as the mammals that eat them. If a poisoned carcass is not disposed of properly, the poison is passed on to other wild animals as well as pets.

I have a barn owl box in my back yard for the benefit of my neighborhood, not because I am mean and hate my neighbors’ pets. After all, how can anyone not like an animal that has a face the shape of a heart? Diane Tan Oak Park